Not Applicable
Not Applicable
This invention relates to conveyors, and more particularly to a nose bar which supports a conveyor chain wrapped around an end of a conveyor frame.
Conveying equipment is used in various manufacturing facilities for transporting articles. Known conveying equipment includes belts or chains that are supported on conveyor frames, and that are constructed of chain links or modules interconnected by chain pins in an endless loop. The articles are often transferred from one conveying section to a second conveying section.
Small articles, or articles which are susceptible to tipping, are difficult to transfer between conveyor sections because of the discontinuity, or gap, between adjacent sections. The articles can get hung up between the conveyor sections, or tip over. Transfer plates are often used to facilitate the transfer of articles from one conveying section to an adjacent conveying section. Depending upon the size of the transfer plates relative to the size of the contact surface of the article conveyed, the transfer plate can form a xe2x80x9cdead spotxe2x80x9d causing the conveyed article to hang up on the transfer plate. The sudden change in motion caused by the article hanging up on the transfer plate can cause the article to tip over.
In order to minimize the discontinuity between conveyor sections, small pitched chain relative to the article contact surface is used. The small pitched chain wraps around the end of a conveyor section having a small radius to allow close spacing of adjacent conveyor sections which minimizes the gap therebetween and associated problems. When wrapping the chain around the conveyor end to minimize the gap between adjacent conveyors, the conveyor ends must be adapted to accommodate the chain. In a known conveyor, a rotating member, such as a roller on a shaft, at the conveyor end rotates as the chains move around the end and through the gap. The shaft, however, can be bent when excessive loads are placed on the conveyor chain, and the moving components can be a source of failure increasing maintenance costs. Furthermore, a small radius conveyor end creates space constraints for rollers and bearings.
In another known conveyor, a non-rotating member is mounted to the conveyor end, and the chain slides around the non-rotating member. This non-rotating member is a solid wear bar machined to a desired profile. The machining marks on the wear bar leaves an undesirable surface finish, and the machining can result in dimensional inconsistencies. For these reasons, the hard wear bar can cause excessive wear of the chain, and high chain tension due to friction. Furthermore, when using a non-rotating member, the wear bar is typically mounted to the conveyor end using brackets. This prevents a 180xc2x0 wrap of the chain around the conveyor end, increasing the thickness of the conveyor frame.
The present invention provides a conveyor which includes a conveyor frame for supporting a chain for slidable movement thereon, and having an end. A chain is slidably supported by the frame and wraps around the end. A nose bar is mounted to the conveyor end, and has an edge extending away from the frame. A wear material insert is mounted to the nose bar edge, and slidably engages the chain.
A general objective of the present invention is to provide a conveyor having nose bar having a wear material which can be easily replaced and optimized for wear and low friction. This objective is accomplished by providing the nose bar with an insert formed from a wear material which can be optimized for a particular conveyor chain for wear and low friction. The insert can be replaced without disassembling the conveyor or chain.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nose bar which allows a chain wrap of 180xc2x0. This objective is accomplished by providing a nose bar body formed from two halves which can clamp onto an end of the conveyor.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which there is shown by way of illustration a preferred embodiment of the invention.